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Committee hears bill to overhaul ferry salary survey to aid recruitment and bargaining
Summary
A bill requiring a focused, third-party salary survey for Washington State Ferries drew support from engineers, deck officers and labor groups who said current comparisons understate maritime pay and worsen staffing shortages.
House Bill 1264 would require the Office of Financial Management to contract with an outside human resources consulting firm to produce a focused salary survey for Washington State Ferries and make that survey available to bargaining parties by April 1 of every even-numbered year.
The bill’s prime sponsor and committee staff said the survey would compare specific ferry work groups — deck, terminal, engine room, masters and mates, and trade employees at the Eagle Harbor Shipyard — to enumerated public and private sector comparators so arbitration panels consider appropriate industry matches.
“Washington State Ferries is competing with private shipping companies and public ferry systems for skilled maritime workers,” said Eric Winge, Washington State Ferries representative for the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association. “Conversations with workers consistently highlight wages and benefits as the reason employees leave Washington State Ferries for other opportunities.”
Speakers from multiple maritime unions and labor councils told the committee that the current oceangoing and West Coast comparators used by OFM are too broad and include vessels and jobs that are not credentialed, licensed or comparable to Washington’s ferry positions. Dan Tuohig, vice president of the Masters, Mates and Pilots organization for the Pacific maritime region, said the correct comparators are “apples to apples” — for example Alaska Marine Highway and comparable international/West Coast ferry lines — not small water taxis or craft that do not require unlimited-tonnage licenses.
“Without action, Washington State Ferries risks losing skilled engineers essential to safe, reliable ferry service,” Eric Winge said in testimony. Several marshalled examples cited an aging workforce, retirement eligibility for many senior engineers, extended overtime and difficulty promoting qualified candidates.
Staff briefed the committee that the bill would also require arbitration panels to consider the public and private sector employees identified in the survey when resolving interest arbitration disputes. Ben McCarthy, staff to the committee, told the panel the bill narrows the list of comparators the OFM must use and codifies the survey’s role in collective bargaining.
Supporters framed the change as a recruitment and retention tool; union witnesses described long training pipelines (years to become a chief engineer) and localized affordability problems such as workers paying large shares of income for housing. A number of speakers urged the committee to pass the bill to better align ferry wages with maritime industry standards.
No formal committee action was recorded during the hearing. The committee conducted a public hearing on HB 1264 and took comment from multiple union and labor witnesses representing engine room, deck and licensed officer classifications. The bill’s staff briefing and the testimony cited workforce shortage data and a Siegel Group workforce report referenced by witnesses.
The hearing closed with the committee suspending the hearing on HB 1264 pending further consideration.
